Throughout the day, Cydney Bolton and Chyanne Butler were on pins and needles, anxiously waiting to see if they would be cleared in time for Serra’s girls basketball showdown Tuesday against Redondo.

About 90 minutes before the game, the news finally broke: their transfers from St. Bernard were officially approved and they were cleared to play.

“We found out right after school. It was a stress relief — finally,” Bolton said.

It did not take them long to make their presence felt.

Bolton and Butler sparked Serra to a 50-39 victory over Redondo in a clash of South Bay titans in the quarterfinals of the Redondo Battle at the Beach Tournament, setting up a semifinal showdown against powerhouse Windward on Friday.

Bolton scored a team-leading 11 points and was a sparkplug for Serra’s frenzied defensive press that flustered Redondo (1-1) into 32 turnovers.

Butler overcame a bad case of the flu and produced five points while acclimating herself to Serra’s style of play.

“I was definitely excited to help this team, and maybe I was trying too hard,” Butler said. “As for being sick, I just tried to play through it.”

Redondo raced to leads of 7-0 and 12-4 in the first quarter.

Then Serra (2-0) cranked up the defensive pressure in the second quarter and began to turn the game around, particularly when Bolton and Brooke Bayman came off the bench with a defensive mandate.

“When we were going in, the coaches told us ‘defense first.’ We just tried to get our defense going,” said Bayman, who had eight points and four steals. “We knew if we turned up our defense and played harder, the offense would come, and that’s what happened.”

Caila Hailey had eight points, seven rebounds and three assists. Brijaye Brackett added eight points and eight rebounds. Kayla Bibb had six points, six rebounds and three steals.

“I like how unselfish this team is,” Bolton said. “It was great to get into the flow of the game, and I was pumped to get the victory with them.”

“Serra is a good team, but I’m disappointed with the way we responded to their pressure,” Enriquez said. ‘We’re a lot better than we showed. I felt like we never relaxed. Once they got us in their frenzied run and jump, we didn’t relax and we took quick shots. Their press did its job.

“I wanted this matchup (against Serra). It’s good to see where we are at as a program.”

Redondo had a mini-scare at the end of the game when Peneueta — having just returned from an ACL surgery — went down with an apparent leg injury and had to be helped off the court.

Peneueta said she rolled her ankle and that it was unrelated to her ACL and is hopeful she can return for Redondo’s fifth-place semifinal against Troy. She was using crutches to take pressure off her ankle and had it on ice.

“It was a little scary, I was not expecting it to roll like that,” Peneueta said. “But I feel good. I think my ankle is fine. I’m just anxious to play. I’ll come back tomorrow after icing and rest and see how it is.”